Letters: Speaking up for the shark

The photo of the grinning anglers with their "prize" — a 1,300-plus-pound mako shark — should make any caring person feel physically ill. While there are a handful of well-publicized shark attacks around the world each year, humans pose the much bigger threat. We kill an estimated 100 million sharks every year, as was made shockingly clear in the "Shark Attack" infographic online that went viral a couple of months ago.

Anglers may not want to hear this, but fishing is a cruel blood sport. Maiming and killing other living beings simply because we can — or because we want to — is just plain wrong.

Paula Moore

Norfolk, Va.

The writer is a senior editor at the PETA Foundation.

For two minutes of fame on a reality show, these fisherman kill a mako shark that posed no threat whatsoever to any human being or beach. God only knows how many years this magnificent creature has roamed the seas to reach more than 1,300 pounds.

Here we have another fine example of the idiocy displayed by hunters who kill only for the joy of sport. Shame on the Outdoor Channel.

Arthur Senzy

Santa Monica

I brake for squirrels crossing the road, as do many. I brake for crows feeding on dead squirrels run down by motorists. I shake my head when I see a dead cat or dog along the roadway, knowing it was someone's pet.

Why anyone feels anything but remorse killing a creature for a photograph or a record — whether a shark, marlin or a water buffalo — is beyond my comprehension. I learned that lesson long ago as a little boy with a BB gun shooting birds. The target was fun, but the lifeless bird wasn't. I gave it up quickly.

These are grown men who thrashed that tremendous shark for hours to exhaustion, gaffed him, hauled him up and proudly posed beside his bleeding corpse. All for a picture.